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This paper analyses the potential implications of the proposed European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the recently adopted United Kingdom (UK) legislation on deforestation-free supply chains (henceforth 'the legislation') for different stakeholders in Brazil. These regulations intend to address global commodity-driven deforestation and forest degradation by ensuring that targeted commodities and products placed on (or exported from) markets are of minimal risk of being associated with - in the EU - deforestation and forest degradation or - in the UK - illegal deforestation. The paper examines potential compliance readiness in cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soybean and tropical timber supply chains in Brazil, indicating specific challenges that may arise. Through the construction of a "Compliance Likelihood Index", our research provides comparable indications to policymakers on sectors and stakeholders that may need stronger support to meet the requirements, in order to maintain Brazil's access to EU and UK markets. The paper indicates that coffee is the sector with the highest level of incentivization and smallest hurdles for compliance, while the cattle sector may face stronger challenges to rapidly adjust its production system towards a deforestation-free value chain and prove compliance. Results of our analysis also highlight the need for collaboration between the EU/UK and Brazil in order to promote alignment between domestic and demand-side legislations so that they are mutually reinforcing. Results of this exercise, which has a focus on the producer-country view of demand-side legislation, will contribute to discussions on the merits of different approaches to strengthen the governance of deforestation-risk commodity trade. [Display omitted] • Brazil's coffee sector may currently have the greatest likelihood of ready compliance. • Cattle may be the sector to which the regulations may pose the greatest challenges. • The EU and UK should focus on providing financial means and technical assistance for smallholders. • The EU and UK legislation will need to be accompanied by domestic policies and regulations in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is generally believed to be a cost-effective mitigation strategy against climate change. Some suggest, however, that costs of REDD+ are underestimated because many studies either exclude or undervalue transaction costs. A major challenge in this field of research is the absence of a common framework and methodology for assessing such costs. This paper uses the notion of governance structures to suggest a generic definition and methodology for measuring transaction costs. The methodology is subsequently used in an analysis of transaction costs for REDD+ pilots in RDS Rio Negro, Brazil and Kilosa, Tanzania. Results indicate higher unit costs – costs per ton of reduced CO 2 – of establishing the REDD+ governance structures in Kilosa, while unit costs of using those structures are higher in RDS Rio Negro. The results also show that while REDD+ was originally conceived as a market i.e., a direct trade between buyers and sellers, it could also take on a non-market governance structure or a mixture of market and non-market elements. These different forms of governance structures have implications for transaction costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical look at how energy security-, food and agriculture-, and climate change-oriented international organizations frame biomass energy production in developing countries, in particular, ethanol production in Brazil. Using the world-economy system as a theoretical lens, the paper raises a concern as to whether the way these global institutions frame bioenergy's role in developing regions manifests energy and ecological inequalities between the core and the periphery, as well as creates internal contradictions that perpetuate unequal exchange embedded in the system. Simultaneously, these organizations frame Brazil as a semi-peripheral state that, while successful in finding a niche concurring with the core's demand for cheap energy and cost-effective decarbonization strategies, is not necessarily a suitable role model for the periphery's socio–economic development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the sustainability of agroecological and conventional agriculture on small farms in southern Brazil. A methodology was developed to identify agri-environmental indicators of the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the farming systems. The criteria used for selecting sustainability indicators were policy relevance, measurability, validity/analytical soundness, level of aggregation/communication to the user. Based on these criteria indicators were selected for natural, financial, physical, human, and social capital assets. The research identified ‘external’ indicators, those relevant to researcher/policy makers, and ‘internal’ indicators, those relevant to the resource users. The two sets were combined and data relevant to the selected indicators were collected from secondary sources and also direct from farmers through a small-scale sample survey. After analysing the data, indicators were selected for each capital asset to generate a multi-criteria assessment of sustainability at three scales: farm, local and regional. The analysis provided evidence of ecological and social advantages of ecological farms, but financial disadvantages associated with the cost of alternative marketing arrangements for agroecological produce. The paper draws conclusions about the usefulness of indicators in the assessment of farming sustainability and possibilities for wider application. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Brazil contains the world''s largest tropical rainforests, most located in the Amazon River Basin. Over the last three decades, rapid growth of this region''s deforested area has had negative impacts. To minimize these impacts and maintain biodiversity, the Brazilian Government has established several national forests in the Basin. The ITTO Project, a reduced impact logging (RIL) operation, was recently carried out at one of these forests: the Tapajós National Forest, also known as Flona Tapajós. This paper evaluates the Project''s profitability and its effect on local residents. The Project, which ran between 1999 and 2003, was coordinated by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), with funding for planning and monitoring provided by the United Kingdom''s Department of International Development (DFID) working through and approved by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). Treviso Agropecuária Ltda, a private logging company, carried out timber extraction on the Project site. Our evaluation found the ITTO Project to have been highly profitable for Treviso, even after their compliance with all Brazilian labor and environmental laws. This finding was based on field interviews and the examination of documents from IBAMA and Treviso. Treviso''s mean internal rate of return from the Project was calculated to have been 35.79%, considerably higher than that generated by the region''s farms and ranches. The ITTO Project positively impacted Project workers, providing employment and exposing them to rainforest management techniques that maximize timber production while minimizing forest destruction. The paper closes by suggesting that more of the direct and indirect benefits of new reduced impact logging projects on Brazilian national forest land need to be channeled to the local population to increase the probability of them act as capable forest custodians. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Brazil is an active player in the CDM business, even playing host to the first CDM project ever registered. Although the majority of the CDM actions which have been developed to date in Brazil are in the energy sector, an analysis of Brazil''s emissions profile demonstrates that the energy sector does not have a significant share of the country''s emissions. Rather that 25% and 56% of the emissions stem from Agriculture and Land Use activities, respectively. In the light of this profile, this paper re-evaluates Brazil''s national Green House Gas (GHG) matrix, and attempts to highlight the potential of the Land Use and Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) CDM projects. An analysis of potential actions for improved penetration of LULUCF projects is presented, alongside key recommendations for future actions. This paper outlines how and why LULUCF projects can become the cornerstone of sustainable development policy in the North and North East region of Brazil, two of the main less developed regions in the country, totalling 62% of the country''s land mass. A focus is made on three A/R projects recently development in Brazil. Through these case studies, an attempt is made to outline potential guidelines for future actions. This paper demonstrates that A/R projects have a significant potential impact on local and rural development in Brazil today. They have the potential to promote the sustainable use of forestry and soil resources. From the analysis it is clear that satisfying local community needs and commitments is a necessary prerequisite to achieving a situation where the risks associated with the issuing of the CER''s (Certified Emission Reductions) could be better managed and also in line with enhanced support from the national authorities (as part of local development plans). The paper concludes that Brazil has significant potential to develop LULUCF CDM projects and that these projects can promote sustainable development through direct impact on the sustainable livelihoods of local communities over the long-term. It is recommended, in line with Brazil''s current emission profile, that to realise this potential it is necessary to design a new relationship model between the key players involved in the CDM process: government agents, local stakeholders, national academia and private parties. Further it is necessary for the Federal Government to foster the LULUCF projects. Supporting actions include defining clear policies that minimise risk and/or reduce perceived risk and the promotion of multi-stakeholder involvement in the CDM project development process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

While sustainability standards promise better labor and environmental conditions, changes in actual practice occur inconsistently. Existing literature has explained this mainly through focusing on structures and mechanisms that originate from outside producers' organizations. This paper instead examines the intraorganizational process by which rules turn into practices on the ground. It offers an inside-out approach that draws on data from an eight-month participant observation study of certified agricultural commodity producers in Brazil. The key finding of this paper is that rules get turned into practices through discovering and cultivating a practice ecosystem in which certified producers in the Global South learn to implement new practices through a self-guided, two-step discovery process. First, they must discover how to build and integrate the elements of a practice; second, they must discover how to support the internalization of this practice. Further, adjacent practices—those alongside the ones that need to be integrated—are pivotal in determing whether producers succeed in building new practices. This paper contributes to the literature on sustainable commodity governance and to organizational theories of practice adaptation. It shows that sustainable commodity governance depends not only on external structures and mechanisms, but also, equally importantly, on the internal organizational mechanisms for new practices to take hold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the occurrence of a decoupling between the growth rates in economic activity and CO2 emissions from energy consumption in Brazil from 2004 to 2009. This decoupling was highlighted when economic activity and CO2 emissions moved in opposite directions in 2009. More generally, we observe several periods of relative decoupling in Brazil, but not to the extent witnessed in 2009. To identify the determinants of emissions change, we develop a decomposition model based on a log-mean Divisia index (LMDI) framework. The results indicate that the carbon intensity and energy mix are the main determinant of emissions reduction in Brazil between 2004 and 2009. Modifications in the economy structure are also associated to emission mitigation in the period. Such evidence demonstrates similarities with events of decoupling registered for the interval 1980–1994 in Brazil. Finds from Brazil differ from observations in other countries in which improvement in energy intensity has been the most common determinant of emissions reduction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Based on three case studies in China and Brazil, this paper explores the terms of access for farmers' participation in certified organic agriculture (OA) and investigates the influence of adoption on productivity, nutrient budgets, income and labour use. Small-scale farmers converting to OA require substantial external production-related, marketing and certification support. Access to OA was strongly dependent upon the type of support available to farmers. Organization based on a contract-farming model resulted in OA only being an option available to a narrow group of farmers, whilst OA initiated by a farmer cooperative provided better access. Gross output was significantly higher for oranges, whilst for the other crops gross output was similar. However, organic farmers in China felt that adoption had improved prices, incomes and market access. Farmers' perception of improved incomes is probably due to improved market access coupled with either a large production base, production intensification and production diversification. This study demonstrates that organization of farmers, and the manner in which this is structured, is crucial for external support to have an effect. Thus, OA may be a development path for small farmers if the supporting structures are provided at a small financial interest rate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper studies the coevolutionary ecological–economic dynamics of agro-environmental change. The case study is Santa Rosa (Brazil) and the modernization of subsistence agriculture followed by the more recent emergence of organic farming. We use coevolution as an integrative framework for explaining how and why economic production changed over time in Santa Rosa in interdependence with the ecosystem resulting in a mosaic of diverse farm practices. A coevolutionary framework expands the explanatory breadth of prevailing accounts of agro-environmental change that rely on a notion of shifts from one singular, homogeneous production economy to the next. It unveils the complex processes driving agro-environmental change, instead of focusing on the structures resulting from it. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The use of sustainable harvest practices in the tropics is often proposed as a way to maintain the environment and address the poverty issues that dominate many tropical regions of the world. In theory, the adoption of these methods can provide win–win solutions to tropical deforestation because they address the environmental consequences of deforestation while increasing the welfare of forest inhabitants. However, there is little reliable data that can be used to test this hypothesis since many of the goods produced in sustainable systems do not have well-defined markets and are most often consumed at home. This paper examines the benefits of collecting and harvesting non-timber forest products in the tropics through various methods using household panel data collected in 1996 and 2000 in the Ouro Preto do Oeste region of Rondônia, Brazil. We estimate the use-value of land under forest, agriculture, and pasture and complement these estimations with census data and regression analysis. Our estimations reveal that households utilizing sustainable practices in the forms of agroforestry and the collection of non-timber forest products have significantly higher levels of diversification. We conclude that directing policy towards “win–win” strategies may not be desirable for reducing both poverty and deforestation in this region since we find no clear evidence that these can successfully be addressed simultaneously. Sustainable development policy should focus on increasing the value of the forest, or reducing the opportunity cost of leaving standing forest on the household lot, if sustainable production strategies are to be more attractive to households in the future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the evolution of a coastal Lagoon ecosystem in Brazil, focusing on how the dynamics between the ecosystem and human systems have influenced the emergence and dynamics of the shrimp market. We focus on the Ibiraquera Lagoon on the southern Brazilian coast, tracing the history of the development of the Lagoon''s seven bordering communities over the last five decades. We then describe the evolution of the area''s shrimp market, describing its players and its demand, supply, and price characteristics. The story that emerges is of a transition from a small barter-based market to a patronage-dominated system to a wider, more complex, price-based system in which the traditional middlemen still exist but serve more as distributors than as patrons. The transitions were facilitated largely through the provision of roads and electricity to the Lagoon communities, which opened the area to tourism and greater business opportunities, and made shrimp storage and transport possible. Interaction between the Lagoon ecosystem and the social and economic systems is clearly an important factor in the dynamics of the shrimp market. Natural and manipulated Lagoon channel openings along with fishing activity influence the amount, size and marketability of the shrimp harvest. Additionally, pollution of the Lagoon''s waters influences shrimp quality and thus price. New institutional arrangements will be needed to address unwanted developments and to ensure that the shrimp market continues to thrive while the Lagoon on which it depends is sustained. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]